High-rises, townhomes planned for undeveloped area south of downtown Loop with Riverline project, adding to a frenzy of construction along the waterway

CHICAGO—A once-gritty stretch along the Chicago River across from an industrial sprawl of concrete and train tracks is headed for transformation as a $1.5 billion development of high-rises, townhomes and a public river walk breaks ground Monday.

The project, known as Riverline, is part of a monumental facelift as developers drawn to the Chicago River build up empty banks along the waterway’s southern stretch. It will eventually bring more than 3,600 new residences to a rare undeveloped plot just south of the downtown Loop.

“The open space was the major initial driver of the development,” said Tom Weeks, general manager of development at Lendlease in Chicago, a co-developer on the project. “We wanted a place where people would play or just sit and contemplate or walk.”

Eight high-rises, a complex of townhouses and several acres of public green, including kayak rental and a continuous river walk longer than five football fields, will replace overgrown brush when it is complete in about a decade, the developers say.

Despite rising violence on the city’s south and west sides, Chicago is among a number of U.S. cities seeing an influx of young, educated workers to their downtown cores.

Riverline adds to a frenzy of construction and revitalization that has taken hold on the Chicago River, despite a continued struggle against odor and pollution problems after decades of channeling the city’s sewage and industrial waste from Chicago’s factories and once-notorious meat-packing plants.

“In a lot of ways, Chicago turned its back on the river,” said Colin Kihnke, president of CMK Companies Ltd., a co-developer of Riverline.

The city has pushed for 15 years to enliven the neglected waterway—including new stretches of walkway at the water level. Developers have transformed riverside factories and old cold-storage facilities into posh loft apartments, and built new glittering skyscrapers, including a tryptich of high-rises being developed by the Kennedys.

Riverline isn’t the only project changing the face of the river in the South Loop. Related Midwest is planning to invest billions to build up an even bigger plot of overgrown riverfront directly south of Riverline, the company said in an e-mail.

The 62-acre site will unite Riverline with Chinatown in the south and is expected to be complete in around 15 years, though Related Midwest hasn’t yet released specifics.

The Chicago skyline photographed from the south branch of the Chicago River on Jan. 30, 2016.PHOTO: RAYMOND BOYD/GETTY IMAGES

Josh Ellis, a South Loop resident and board member for the Greater South Loop Association, said the neighborhood is eager to have the stretch of river including Riverline to Chinatown in the south developed.

“People want the South Loop to be a riverfront neighborhood,” Mr. Ellis said. Residents hope the projects will spur infrastructure improvements, including an additional high school and a reconfiguration of roads to prevent bottlenecks, he said.

The first phase of Riverline, designed by Perkins + Will with landscape architects Hoerr Schaudt, will include a 29-story rental building, an 18-story building of condos, and a community of 62 townhomes.

“People want energy and enthusiasm and a place to interact with the water,” said Mr. Ellis, who is also director at the Metropolitan Planning Council. “They want the rivers to be part of the urban fabric.”